


Christmas Delights

by pornosophical



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Christmas Eve, Fluff, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 11:18:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6003924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pornosophical/pseuds/pornosophical
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Percy had told his mom he wanted to invite Nico over for Christmas he hadn't expected her to take his idea and run quite so far with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Delights

**Author's Note:**

> hey guess when this fic was supposed to go out? yeah… my bad. so have it now!

Things had gotten a bit crowded now that everyone had arrived. When Sally had learned just how many of Percy’s friends didn’t have anywhere to go on Christmas she’d been pretty liberal with the invitations. Which has how almost half of the Seven and co had wound up in their apartment.

“Thalia, I was decorating those,” Jason whined as his sister dragged him away from the table full of gingerbread cookies.

Only Hazel was still focused on actually decorating cookies. Leo had finished putting tiny lights on the gingerbread houses and moved on to examining an old broken toy train that Percy’s mom had never had the heart to throw out. Jason and Thalia were now in a corner talking in low voices looking grim, so that was probably all good, Percy thought sarcastically.

Percy hadn’t bothered trying to be artsy with his gingerbread men and was already done. Since Paul was in the kitchen with Percy’s mom, that just left his boyfriend, who was missing.

“Nico?” Percy asked quietly, craning his neck around to survey the kitchen. Only Paul was there.

Percy looked around, his brow furrowed. His boyfriend and his mom were both missing. A sense of foreboding fell over him. The only thing more potentially dangerous than his mom and Nico conspiring was his mom and Annabeth conspiring (or, worst of the worst, all three of them conspiring together). He better go find them before Sally managed to convince Nico that Percy needed to work on his essay over Christmas or even something more awful like sitting for the SATs.

(He also hoped Annabeth and Piper were having fun at Saturnalia, but that was neither here nor there.)

Percy set down his blue eggnog and got up to search them out. He stopped to add some jaunty eyebrows to one of Nico’s grim little skull-faced gingerbread men before he left.

He ducked out of the living room to poke his head completely into the kitchen. No sign of them, just food still cooking or resting under foil, and Paul giving him a questioning look.

“Smells good in here,” Percy told him.

“Dinner should be ready soon,” Paul said with a paternal fondness that had been sorely lacking for most of Percy’s life.

Percy grinned back at him, feeling warm, and not just because of the kitschy Christmas sweater he was wearing. Paul was a good guy.

Percy retreated from the kitchen and surveyed the hallway with mounting suspicion.

Were they in his room? He couldn’t imagine why they would be…

Percy moved farther back into the apartment.

Nope, his room was empty, just a pair of sleeping bags on the floor, still stuffed and rolled up, for Jason and Leo. Percy was still a bit put out they were staying in his room, but even if they hadn’t been his mom would have probably made him keep the door open.

At least while Nico was sleeping over, that is. That had been the case the last time Nico stayed over, but that had been like five months ago, just before Percy’s birthday. They’d still been pretty new then, and privately Percy thought his mom was having some empty-nest anxieties, so she was treating him and Nico like kids.

Getting Nico alone wasn’t actually all that difficult, even without shadow travel, something they’d taken advantage of that many times. But extended privacy had become a little elusive since they started dating. Not like anyone was setting out to keep them from each other, Sally was just having some trouble with the fact that Percy was moving out and had a boyfriend he liked sleeping with, both platonically and… otherwise.

Percy shuddered to think what would happen when he was actually due to move to New Rome. Nico had already transferred his version of credits; he was getting a more intensive one-on-one tutoring with Chiron to make up for the knowledge gaps he had. Between the time travel and being on the run for all those years, his schooling had some big holes.

At least, schoolwork was easier for Nico than it was for Percy. Nico didn’t like it when Percy said Nico was smarter than him, even though it was clearly true. It was sweet of him, though, and Percy didn’t mind humoring Nico, especially when he was being sweet.

When Nico was being devious, however, all bets were off. And if Nico was missing along with Percy’s mom, then that spelled out devious just as surely as Percy probably couldn’t.

He paused outside his room. On a hunch he drifted farther down the hall to his mom’s room. Her door was ajar, and light was spilling out.

Percy crept close using all his demigod related skills and training to stay quiet. He peaked through the hinges.

Nico was standing with his back to the door and Percy, facing Sally. Percy’s mom was talking to Nico, and pressing something into his hands.

“No matter what happens with you and Percy,” his mom was saying. “I want you to know that if you ever need anything, you can call me, or Paul, okay? You’ll always be welcome here.”

Nico’s response was too low for Percy to hear, but the hug that followed told him everything he needed to know.

Percy sniffled, because how could he not, and was immediately caught.

“Perseus Jackson, you little brat,” Sally said mock-severely. “Get your butt in here mister.”

Nico was surreptitiously wiping his eyes as Percy sidled bashfully into the room.

“Uh… hi, guys. Whatcha doing?”

Sally sighed, but it was a fondly exasperated noise. She traded a look with Nico that had them both smiling, and even though Percy had a feeling it was at his expense he didn’t mind.

“I’ll let you two talk,” she said. “It’s about time to wrangle the gingerbread men anyway.”

She kissed Percy on her way out. Percy smiled after her fondly, and then turned to Nico, who was trying to keep a smile off his face.

“So…” Percy spoke slowly, under Nico’s bemused but implacable stare. “What were you guys talking about?”

“Sally had a present for me.” Nico’s hand was tightly closed around something, and Percy could sense he was feeling playful.

“What did she give you?” Sometimes getting information out of Nico was still like pulling teeth, but nowadays it was more often because he was teasing Percy. And Percy didn’t mind Nico’s teasing, it never made him feel less-than, just loved.

Nico opened his hand almost shyly, offering up something small and shiny. “A key.”

Percy picked up the key from Nico’s hand. It was warm, and brand new. Since Nico had a habit of shadow-travelling directly into Percy’s room it was a symbolic gift more than anything else.

Hell of a symbol though. Nico looked very fragile just then, so Percy angled his head to kiss him, pressing the key back into his palm.

“Merry Christmas,” he whispered into Nico’s lips after they stopped kissing.

“Yeah,” said Nico, with only a slight tremble to his voice. “It really is.”

He pulled Percy close, resting his head on Percy’s shoulder. Nico’s soft hair tickled the hollow of Percy’s throat, and Percy gently stroked his hand down Nico’s spine.

“Thank you,” Nico whispered.

“It wasn’t my idea,” Percy told him. “All her.”

After holding each other for a minute they separated, and, fingers tangled together, walked back into the sitting room.

Hazel was helping Sally gather up the cookies, Thalia was still lecturing Jason in the corner about _something_ , Percy was very curious now as to what, and Leo—Leo was picking up the train.

“Uh, Leo, buddy,” Percy began but was ignored. Leo walked up to Sally.

“Hey, so does this train work?” asked Leo.

“No, it hasn’t worked for a number of years,” said Sally. She looked at the train wistfully, which transformed into vague alarm when Leo opened it up without even unscrewing anything.

“This is old school, real good work,” said Leo approvingly. “I can fix it if you want.”

“You can?” asked Sally.

“Oh yeah I can totally fix this,” said Leo with a wave as he set the train down. Then he produced his multi-tool he always carried, and then things happened very quickly. Within seconds the train was mostly dismantled and Leo was examining its innards.

The demigods who were used to Leo working minor and major mechanical marvels watched in amusement as Sally and Paul gaped at him. Sally looked at Percy and he nodded encouragingly, if Leo said he could fix it then he could fix it.

“Nico—tool belt me,” Leo demanded with a grabby hand over his shoulder when his personal multi-tool proved insufficient.

Percy coughed into his fist, grinning, as Nico sighed dramatically. All the same, he walked over to a corner to bend down into the shadows, like a low and somewhat inconvenient cabinet. Hazel wasn’t quite practiced enough with her powers for doing this, although Nico was working with her on it. When he stood up he was holding Leo’s tool belt, looking sour.

Percy really did love him to pieces.

“If it wasn’t for your mom I would have thrown it at him,” Nico whispered to him after he handed the belt to Leo. Percy bit his tongue to keep from laughing.

Within minutes Leo had the train winding up smoothly and serenely driving down its lonely stretch of track. Somehow in the process of fixing it the metal had gotten shined and buffed, like it had a fresh coat of paint, which Percy figured had to be put down to Leo’s machine-magic touch. Ever since coming back from Ogygia he’d been pretty unstoppable in that department.

More importantly, Sally’s eyes were wet as she watched the train wind up and drive down its lonely track segment.

“I didn’t think anyone could get these guys running again,” she said softly. “They were my father’s.”

Percy couldn’t stop smiling.

“Well, I mean it’s all gears and shi—stuff in there,” said Leo with an evasive shrug. “If I don’t have to solder any circuit board it’s almost always an easy fix.”

“Thank you, Leo,” she said and Leo grinned bashfully. It was the first time Percy had ever seen anything remotely like shyness on Leo. It was almost cute.

His mom had that effect on people though. Even Thalia softened up around Sally Jackson.

“Hang on just a minute,” she said and darted off down the hall.

“I can’t believe you’d think that of me!” said Jason just loud enough that everyone’s attention refocused onto him and Thalia. Jason flushed at the attention but Thalia just gave them all a look that said they best pretend nothing had happened.

“Here, Hazel, let me help you with those,” Nico said, swooping in to grab a plate of cookies.

“Thank you, and Mrs. Jackson said we can leave the big house on the table,” said Hazel. “But the other two we should move…”

“They can go on the counter,” Sally called as she walked down the hallway. “And Hazel, please, call me Sally.”

Sally walked back into the living room with an old box Percy had only ever seen pulled out when he was a little kid. There had been some things neither he nor Gabe was allowed to touch, and this box had been one of them. Sally set the box on the table.

“All right!” Sally clapped to get everyone’s attention. “Anyone who isn’t currently in the kitchen is now setting the table. Leo, if you want, maybe you could help me with setting up the train tracks?”

“Sure!” Leo turned and made a taunting face at them Sally couldn’t see, clearly happy to be exempted from setting the table. Nico rolled his eyes and Percy grinned at him. That was the proper reaction to Leo, without a doubt.

Percy showed everyone where to get placemats and glasses, dancing around Paul who was putting last minute finishes and plating things. Dinner was going to be buffet style with a few dishes on the table, but it smelled so good Percy’s gut was already growling.

He could only drink so much eggnog on an empty stomach.

While Percy knew where things went, Hazel was the one who knew how to properly set a table. Jason was on napkin folding duty, while Thalia and Nico set out glasses and poured water. Which left Percy carting around plates.

Leo and Sally soon had the train winding around the tree, and Leo had managed to rig up the tracks so they were elevated, like they were part of the decorations. Percy hadn’t seen his mom look this joyful in a while, all bright and bubbly with sentimentality. It made her seem younger.

Leo seemed to be lapping up the attention too. Sometimes it made Percy’s heart hurt, how much his friends had missed out on having a mortal parent who looked out for them. Of course that was part of what motivated the group Christmas.

Finally, they were all sitting down to dinner when Percy had a wicked idea.

Thalia would never let him get away with this, but Jason…

“Hey, Jason,” said Percy leaning forward with a purposefully obnoxious grin. “You wanna say grace?”

The table groaned. Mission accomplished.

“I think that I’ll say grace if only so there’s not a conflict of interest,” Paul said with a wink at Percy. “But maybe Jason could favor us with a prayer for the gods right after?”

Jason nodded, formally, all adult-like, which irritated Percy. Jason was actually younger than Percy! He had no call acting like a big shot. Percy had done everything Jason had ever done and more, in fact Percy was legally an adult and Jason wouldn’t be one for… well a few months at least.

Honestly, just because he was the official high priest or whatever.

Nico’s hand appearing on Percy’s under the table distracted him from his cranky musings. Sometimes he worried that Nico paid more attention to Percy’s mood than Percy did to Nico’s, Nico always seemed to know when Percy was upset about something, or even happy and wanting to share. Reading other people was hard, hell, sometimes just paying attention to a conversation was hard for Percy.

Nico made it easy though, or as easy as he could. He didn’t make Percy guess, not anymore at any rate. There’d been a rough patch when they were still navigating their renewing friendship, and Percy had still been dating Annabeth.

“… And let us say, Amen.”

“Amen,” the table responded.

“Jason?” Paul sat down, and Jason stood up. He said something in Latin, and then something in Greek, praising the gods, whatever, Percy wasn’t paying attention to that.

What he was paying attention to were Nico’s clever fingers skittering up and down his forearm, tracing along the pale blue-green lines under his skin. His touch was feathery light with brief dips into lightly scraping his blunt nails over the veins in Percy’s wrist.

A good distraction, until the second round of toasting, and then— _finally_ —it was dinnertime.

Sally tended to do most of the cooking when Percy was home, but on the weekends or when he wasn’t working Paul liked to play in the kitchen. This usually resulted in food that was unusual or new to Percy, despite living in New York, one of the most diverse metropolitan centers on the planet. He didn’t always enjoy it, but he wasn’t forced to eat anything he didn’t like.

This was also another point in Paul’s favor. Gabe, that abusive asshole, had never once cooked, or done anything else to help around the house for that matter. Paul not only cooked for Sally, but since he didn’t cook as often, he went out of his way to make his meals interesting.

For Christmas Eve dinner though, Paul had gone traditional, more traditional than Percy had ever experienced. For one thing he didn’t cook a turkey, he cooked a goose. There were also mashed potatoes, a homemade cranberry sauce mold, a medley of roast vegetables, and gravy. And of course there was more blue eggnog, although it was so rich only Percy and Leo were really drinking it.

(Leo was like a black hole for food, and no one could tell where he put it considering he was still the smallest guy in their group).

Percy wouldn’t lie; he was impressed how Leo could pack it away, although everyone was eating more than usual. Even Nico, who was still notorious for his low appetite, was working on a small second plate.

Dessert was a rum raisin rice pudding, with the gingerbread men (and, eventually, the house) they’d decorated earlier. Percy absent-mindedly handed his gingerbread men over to Nico, who bit the heads off with relish before he handed them back.

“Okay,” said Thalia loudly. Percy and Nico looked up to realize everyone was staring at them. “That is nauseatingly adorable. I take back everything I said, Jason.”

“Thank you!” Jason exclaimed.

“What?” asked Percy, feeling defensive. Did this have anything to do with what they’d been arguing about earlier? “What?”

“The two of you,” said Jason bluntly. Hazel was giggling behind her hand. “You’re too adorable, and it’s really not okay.”

Nico was nearly as red as the ornaments on the tree, and even Percy was feeling a bit warm. He hadn’t thought much of it. He just knew Nico liked to bite the heads of cookies. And Percy liked making Nico happy.

“It is a pretty terrible curse to bear,” said Percy solemnly. “Your _gracious_ apology is accepted.”

“I wasn’t,” Jason began and then subsided with a grumble as Percy stuck his tongue out at him.

“Well, I guess that explains where all my mistletoe went,” Leo muttered as he stabbed at some Brussels sprouts half-heartedly.

Nico coughed, and Percy absent-mindedly started rubbing his back. Had Leo put up mistletoe?

“You put mistletoe up?” asked Paul, echoing Percy’s thoughts, as he scooped up the last traces of pudding from his cup.

“He did, and I took all of it down,” said Jason with a mock glower at Leo. Leo was immune to being chastened by Jason though, as were most of them, so he ignored it. “And now Thalia sees why because the two of you are even sweeter than these cookies.”

Percy wondered how much of this was Jason being protective, because Nico wasn’t big on public displays of affection still, even when they were with friends. It’d be just like Jason to decide that Leo’s planned prank went too far and take it upon himself to clean up the mess before it happened.

“Genius is never understood in its time,” said Leo haughtily.

“It’s a really swell pudding,” Hazel stage-whispered to Paul.

“Thank you, Hazel,” Paul stage-whispered back. “It’s nice to be appreciated.”

A sudden clamor rose up as everyone tried to thank Paul and Sally at once.

“You’re very welcome, all of you,” said Sally with a smile, and a wink at Percy. “And we’re very glad you could share Christmas with us.”

Percy grinned back at his mom, running his hand up and down Nico’s thigh, ending with a squeeze just before the knee.

Nico slipped his hand into Percy’s, and they smiled at each other.

 

* * *

 

After the dishes had been cleared away Percy took a moment to sneak off to his room. He’d left his friends and family laughing, Hazel, Jason, and Thalia listening to Nico animatedly telling a story while Leo showed Paul and Percy’s mom how to keep the train maintained.

He walked up to the window to watch the falling snow on the fire escape. The same fire escape Nico had appeared on all those years ago to tell him about a crazy plan that was their only hope.

Percy smiled, remembering how he’d first reacted to Nico, to that bright young boy chattering questions at him while a Manticore tried to kill them. If only he could go back in time and tell young-Percy that such an annoying little kid would become one of his most important people.

The boyfriend bit would be way too much of a revelation, but the other stuff…

Well, if Percy could go back in time there were a lot of things he’d change.

Too many.

“Obol for your thoughts?” asked Nico, who had quietly appeared in the doorway.

Percy shook himself loose from his recollections as Nico joined him watching the falling snow.

“Obol?” Percy asked in turn. He stepped back from the window so Nico could slot in front of him, and Percy could wrap his arms around him.

“Smallest unit of Greek currency,” said Nico, snuggling into Percy’s arms. It used to be Percy could rest his chin on Nico’s head, and he still could, but it wasn’t exactly comfortable anymore. His boyfriend was just a smidge too tall these days. “Like a penny.”

Nuzzling the side of Nico’s head and kissing his ear was still very possible, though, and enjoyable to boot. So Percy did.

“So, what were you thinking about?” asked Nico, softer this time. The quiet created a little bubble of intimacy, just them, the window, and the wide, cold world beyond.

Percy hummed contentedly. “Definitely not thinking about putting you in a meat flavored sack and throwing you to the wolves.”

“… That was oddly specific.”

“Uh.” Percy realized he wasn’t sure he wise it would be to share the rest of the story. “I love you?”

“You better,” Nico told him darkly and tugged Percy’s arms tighter around him.

Percy grinned and kissed Nico on his cheek. “Merry Christmas.”

 

 


End file.
